HONG KONG/SINGAPORE, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Canadian insurer
Manulife Financial Corp is nearing a deal to buy
British bank Standard Chartered's Hong Kong pension
business for about $400 million in an attempt to narrow the gap
with its leading rival, people familiar with the matter said.

Retirement savings is emerging as a big business opportunity
for life insurers in Hong Kong as the Asian financial hub is now
home to a rapidly ageing population, with a higher life
expectancy.

Hong Kong's $80 billion mandatory provident fund (MPF)
business is poised for consolidation and companies that lack
scale will exit the market, banking sources said. HSBC
and Manulife control nearly half of the retirement savings
assets in Hong Kong.

Toronto-based Manulife has been stepping up its Asian
presence in quest of faster growth. In April, Manulife struck a
distribution agreement with Singapore's DBS Group for
$1.2 billion, giving it a 15-year partnership to sell products
through the lender's Asian branch network.

Asia accounted for more than half of Manulife's insurance
sales in the first quarter of 2015.